Mud feeder for oil wells



Sept. 20, 1955 H. w. HUDSPETH 2,718,435

MUD FEEDER FOR OIL WELLS Filed July 22, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORATTORNEYS Sept. 20, 1955 H. w. HUDSPETH MUD FEEDER FOR OIL WELLS 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 22, 1952 INVENTOR HuZer Z WHu Jefei/zATTORNEY5 United States Patent MUD FEEDER FOR 01L WELLS Hubert W.Hudspeth, Hobbs, N. Mex.

Application July 22, 1952, Serial No. 300,148

4 Claims. (Cl. 302-15) This invention relates to a mud feeder for oilwells.

In the drilling of oil wells, mud is fed to the well so as to provide ameans for removing the drilled-out material. An object of this inventionis to provide an improved means for regulating the discharge of dry mudinto a water pipe.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mud regulator which canbe mounted in conventional hoppers and which will correctly meter themud discharged from the hopper, and will permit the hopper to besubstantially filled with dry mud at one operation and thereby eliminatethe need for a constant attendant to feed the mud slowly to preventclogging.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved mud feedingdevice which includes means for admitting metered quantities of air tothe mud valve so as to assure an even flow of mud.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in thearrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in thedrawings and specification, and then more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a detail side elevation, partly in vertical section, of afeeder for a mud hopper constructed according to an embodiment of thisinvention,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure2,

Figure 4 is a plan view, partly in section, of the air feeder,

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure2,

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates generally anelongated tubular housing which is formed of a tubular upper member 11connected to a tubular lower member 12 by means of a cylindricalcoupling member 13. The lower tubular member 12 is formed with a reduceddiameter lower end 14 which is threaded into a cylindrical sleeve 15.

The sleeve 15 snugly fits within a cylindrical discharge nipple 16carried by the lower end of an upwardly flared or substantially conicalhopper 17. The nipple 16 of the hopper 17 is mounted within anupstanding coupling nipple 18 carried by a horizontal water conductingpipe 19. The water pipe 19 is formed adjacent the lower end of thehopper 17 with a reduced diameter pipe 20 which forms a nozzle andventuri whereby water under pressure will flow to the left, as viewed inFigure 1, and will thereby form a suction for drawing downwardly intothe pipe 19 dry mud which is discharged into the hopper 17.

The lower housing member 12 is provided with a plurality of verticalelongated intake ports 21 which are arranged circumferentially about thehousing member 12 and a cylindrical valve member 22 is slidable withinthe housing member 12. The valve member 22 is adapted to be verticallymoved as will be hereinafter described so as to regulate the opening orclosing of the intake ports 21. These ports 21 are disposed adjacent thelower small end of the hopper 17 so that the dry mud within the hoppermay gravitatingly flow through the ports 21 into the housing member 12.

A horizontally disposed shaft 23 is journalled diametrically across theupper housing member 11 and has secured within the housing member 11 asubstantially T fitting 24 which includes an arm 25 extending at rightangles to the shaft 23. A connecting link 26 is secured at its upper endto the arm 25 and is secured at its lower end to a diametricallydisposed bar 27 which is secured within the upper portion of the valvemember 22.

The shaft 23 has an inner spring 28 engaging thereabout which bearsagainst the housing 11 and fitting 24 and a second or outer spring 29bears at its inner end against the outer side of the housing member 11and bears at its outer end against a nut or spring tensioning member 30mounted on the adjacent outer end of the shaft 23. An L-shaped coupling31 is secured to the opposite end of the shaft 23 and an elongatedhandle or crank arm 32 is secured to the L 31 and extends upwardlytherefrom. The springs 28 and 29 yieldably hold crank arm or handle 32against a notched keeper bar 33 (Fig. 4) which is fixed to the outerside of the housing member 11. The keeper bar 33 is formed adjacent theopposite ends thereof with stop members 34 which limit the rockingmovement of the handle 32. A cap 35 is threaded onto the upper end ofthe upper housing member 11 and is formed with a top wall 36 having apair of sector-shaped openings 37 which are diametrically disposed.

A valve plate 38 is pivotally mounted on a pivot 39 and is movablerelative to the openings 37 so as to open or close the openings foradmission of air through the upper end of the upper housing member 11. Ahandle 39a extends from the valve member 38 so that this valve membercan be readily adjusted to provide for opening or closing of theopenings 37.

In the use and operation of this device, the feeder hereinbeforedescribed is firmly set into the hopper nipple 16 and extends verticallyand axially upwardly through the hopper 17. The dry mud is thendischarged into the hopper 17 and valve member 22 is vertically adjustedto provide for the desired flow of the dry mud into the mixing pipe 19.The force of the water flowing horizontally from the nozzle pipe 20 intothe mixing pipe 19 will cause the dry mud to be drawn downwardly intothe mixing pipe 19. The rate of flow of the dry mud is controlled byvertical adjustment of the valve member 22 and the adjustment of the airvalve member 38.

With a feeder as hereinbefore described, the hopper 17 may be initiallycompletely filled with the dry mud and it will be unnecessary for anattendant to constantly watch the condition of the hopper after thevalve members 22 and 38 have been initially set. As a matter of practicethe mud is discharged from one hundred pound bags into the hopper 17 andwith the use of conventional hopper devices not containing valvedsuction devices it is necessary for one or more attendants to beconstantly watching the flow of the mud so that the mud will movedownwardly into the mixing pipe or chamber 19. However, with the devicehereinbefore described, the device will operate without constantattendance of the operator and the mud will evenly flow downwardly formixing with the water discharged from the nozzle pipe 20 into the mixingpipe or chamber 19.

I- do not mean to confine myself to the exact details of constructionherein disclosed, but claim all variations falling Within the purview ofthe appended claims.

What I claim is:

:A feeder for mud hoppers including a discharge nipple and a wateractuated suction means below said nipple,said feeder comprising avertically disposed tubular housing adapted for mounting in said nipple,said housing having a plurality of intake ports adjacent the lowerportion thereof, a cylindrical valve slidable in said housing, means,including a valve actuating link connected with said valve for adjustingthe latter relative to said ports, said link being disposed in saidhousing, and adjustable valve means at the upper end of said housing forregulating theentrance of air into said housing to vary the degreeofjsuction.

2. In combination a hopper for receiving dry mud, a water pipe connectedwith the lower end of said hopper and extending at right angles relativeto said hopper, a tubular upright housing fixed at its lower end in saidhopper, said housing having intake ports in the lower portion thereof, acylindrical valve slidable in said housing, means carried by the upperportion of said housing connected with said valve for adjusting saidvalve relative to said ports, said means including a valve actuatinglink disposed in said housing, and valve means for admitting air intothe upper end of said housing, the relative position of said cylindricalvalve and said valve means determining the degree of suction at thelower end of said hopper.

3. In combination a hopper for receiving dry mud said hopper having adischarge nipple, a Water pipe connected with the lower end of saidnipple and extending at right angles relative to said hopper, a tubularupright housing fixed at its lower end in said nipple, said housinghaving intake ports in the lower portion thereof, a cylindrical valveslidable in said housing, a shaft journalled diametrically across theupper portion of said housing, an arm fixed to said shaft in saidhousing, a link connecting said arm with said valve, a right angularlydisposed handle fixed to the outer end of said shaft, and means holdingsaid lever in angularly adjusted position, and a valve controlling thequantity of air admitted into the upper end of said housing to vary thedegree of suction in accordance with the position of the cylindricalvalve, said lastnamed valve comprising a closure member for the upperend of said housing and provided with a plurality of apertures, and adisk pivotally mounted on said closure member, said disk beingadjustable relative to said apertures to control the flow of air throughsaid tubular housing.

4. A feeder adapted for mounting in a mud hopper comprising a tubularupright housing fixed at its lower end in said hopper, said housinghaving a plurality of intake ports in the lower portion thereof, acylindrical regulating valve slidable in said housing, a shaftjournalled through said housing adjacent the upper portion thereof, aright angular arm fixed relative to said shaft within said housing, alink pivotally connected to said arm and said valve whereby rocking ofsaid shaft will adjust said valve relative to said ports, inner andouter springs on said shaft yieldably holding the latter against endwisemovement, a right angularly disposedhandle fixed to one end of saidshaft, a notched keeper element fixed to said housing and engageable bysaid handle for holding the latter in angularly adjusted position, andadjustable valve means at the upper end of said housing for regulatingthe admission of air through the upper end of said housing, the relativeposition of said cylindrical regulating valve and said adjustable valvemeans controlling the degree of suction, said last-named valvecomprising a closure member having a plurality of sector-shaped openingsextending transversely therethrough, said closure member being mountedon the upper end of said housing, and a disk pivotally connected on saidclosure member and adjustable relative to said sector-shaped openings tocontrol the flow of air through said tubular housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS772,443 Turner Oct. 18, 1904 2,129,451 Talmage Sept. 6, 1938 2,425,524Fontenot et al Aug. 12, 1947 2,594,072 Ridley Apr. 22, 1952

